The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Jodi Mills & Boela Gerber Joined Alex Urpí & Xavier Urpí On "Today y Mañana!"

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Jodi Dean Mills, General Manager, and Boela Gerber, Winemaker at Southwest Mountains Vineyards, joined Alex Urpí & Xavier Urpí On “Today y Mañana!” “Today y Mañana” airs every Thursday at 10:15 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Today y Mañana” is presented by Emergent Financial Services, LLC, Craddock Insurance Services Inc and Matthias John Realty, with Forward Adelante.

Good morning everyone and welcome to Today y Mañana. I'm Alex, This is Edgar. We're very excited to have you joining us on this kind of rainy morning here in Charlottesville, Virginia. But that's just a deranged excuse. It's perfect for what we're doing. It's perfect for what we're doing, which is grab your cafe con leche, get to your cozy place, watch some Today y Mañana, or in our case, grab some wine, get into a cozy place, and watch some today y mañana. So we have a great show lined up for you.

We're going to be joined shortly in the show by Jody Mills, general manager, and Bola Gerber, winemaker from Southwest Mountains Vineyard. And so we're looking forward to that. It's going to be fantastic. Later in the show, we might have a little finance talk. I think Xavier is still feeling up to it after the first segment. I'll be so happy. We have nothing to talk about.

Everything is great. Don't worry about it. Absolutely. So it's a great show that we have lined up for everyone this morning. Of course, love being here on the I Love Siebel Network set. A couple big shout-outs. Of course, thank you to our great partners, Emergent Financial Services, Stratix Serious Insurance, Matthias Young Realty, Forward Adelante.

Thanks so much for everyone who contributes. And, of course, thanks to all our great guests. I can see people tuning in already. We already had a couple international, at least one international viewer joining us, and I'm sure there's going to be more on the way tuning in. And very importantly, don't forget to like and share. Absolutely. And subscribe.

Ask us any questions, comments you may have. I always read the nice comments to our guests. So be sure to do that. And if they're not nice, that means they're coming towards me. Those are the only ones. They're not nice towards Xavier anyway. Those are the only ones you ask. I don't indulge reading them.

I just read them quietly, and then Nick keeps track of them all, you know, back to the – all the constructive criticism of Xavier. Nick keeps hold of that back at the office. That's right. It shows me the list when I get back there. Absolutely. So been looking forward to this for some time. How have you been?

It's been a tough week since I've been on with you, I feel. It's been – absolutely. And I'm delighted to be back, and I know Michael does a great job, so I'm happy about that. But, yeah, it's been busy. So, you know, unfortunately, I can't always make it anymore. But now we have that rotating, the rotating cast

of characters. Exactly. For today, Laniyana, that's been good. UVA Baseball continuing to do well. I always like to just wish out. So this past weekend? We took two of three from North Carolina, UNC this past weekend

They're still scoring as much as possible? Yeah, we still win I think our scores were like we won like 12-10 then we had won normally like 7-3 and then we lost like 14-12 or something so if we lose it's not because we didn't score. That's right.

You can put it that way. It's just because the other team scored a lot more than we did. Exactly, exactly. But, you know, it's a beautiful time to go. It's almost like football scores sometimes. Sometimes it looks like a football score. We've had a couple games where it's like, oh, my goodness, that looks like a football score. That's just fun.

I'll be honest with you. When you go to a game and there's a lot of runs scored, it's exciting. Exactly. I mean, spring baseball, you go out, enjoy the weather, enjoy the beautiful sight. It's been a little cold, though. It's been a little cold. It's been a little chilly. A little chilly.

But we've had some nice, beautiful, sunny days, though. Well, the game we went to was beautiful. It was like almost summer that day. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I encourage people to check that out. And, of course, another fun thing to do when the weather starts turning beautiful and the spring is here, the mountains are here,

is to go to some of the beautiful vineyards that we have in our area. Such as, for example? And we're very excited to have such as Southwest Mountains Vineyards. So we're really thrilled to bring onto the show this morning Jody Mills, General Manager, and Bola Gerber, winemaker from Southwest Mountains Vineyards. Jody, Bola, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Oh my gosh, thank you for having us here. It's exciting. I've been on set a couple of times, so it's nice to be back on the I Love Seville Network with Jerry over the several years. Absolutely. No, we're really excited to have you with us. We've been looking forward to it

for a while. This whole week we just kept saying, is it Thursday yet? Is it Thursday yet? Exactly. I love it. For those who haven't watched some previous episodes, tell us maybe a little bit about yourselves and for each of you, how you first became interested

in the winemaking field. I'm going to let Bolo start since he's got the history. We're going to give you the front and center. You get to go first, Bolo. You get to go. Throw me under the bus first. Fantastic. So I went to university or college,

whatever you want to call it, straight after school to study science. And it was suggested to one of my friends, suggested dry winemaking. It's also science-based, but just a bit more practical, a bit more hands-on, a bit more outdoors. So I started studying winemaking with very little wine knowledge and just fell in love with it, especially during the practice. You can imagine first, second year students, you know, going out on wine tours and wine tasting.

So, yeah, what not to love. So, yeah, that's what I've been doing. I started working from Cape Town, South Africa, and working in South Africa, but also had the opportunity to go abroad, to do a few vintages in Bordeaux in France, and in Italy, and in Spain, and in California as well. So it's a bit of an international experience as well.

I wish I had friends that told me to do that. Where were my friends? I wish I had friends that told me to do that. I wish I had friends that would have told me that to do. Back when he was doing that, I was still drinking Sutter Home, right? How about yourself, Jeremy? How did you first get interested in the field? Do you know what? It's purely because of drinking wine, right? My husband and I took our first trip to California in 2008,

and that was it. We were hooked really after that. And we went from drinking the everyday wines to only really wanting to drink these really good, expensive California wines. And we've since traveled abroad and gone to different places, Italy as one, France, Germany. And it's just been lovely just starting to get to know the wines. And then certainly being

lucky enough to work for the Manning family, who the Manning family is who owns Southwest Mountains Vineyards. I've worked for them for seven years and they've given me so many opportunities. And so when this opportunity presented itself, Paul came and said, would you like to do this for us? And I said, yes. And it has been an adventure and a half because we've built it from ground up. So from no vines at all to... Well, the vines were planted, the original vines were planted on the property out in Keswick in 2016. So the first season of growth was in 2017. Usually it takes two or three years, as Bola can attest, for you to have these good quality grapes. And right out of the gate in 2017, he had beautiful Chardonnay grapes and beautiful Viognier grapes.

And so the first year out, we were bottling wines. And those wines were, you know, all made by Emily Hodson with Veritas. And that relationship with Emily lasted until 2022. She made our wines and contributed to the winemaking process all the way through that time frame until we brought on Bola last year in April of 2023. And so he was lucky enough to get here, be a part of us finishing this beautiful production facility, but then be there for our 2023 harvest and also have his full team. So it's been a wonderful 2023 and a great start to 24. Absolutely. And how did you get connected? How did you get brought into the fold? That is interesting. So it's been a wonderful 2023 and a great start to 2024. Absolutely.

And how did you get connected? How did you get brought into the fold? That is interesting. So I was at a property called Hroth Constantia, a very historical property, the oldest wine farm in South Africa for many years. I was there for 23 years. And after that, you know, I felt, you know, you get to a point where it's time to go, your job's done. So I was at the point that I was ready to move. And then a friend of mine, he's a winemaker in California.

He has connections here on the East Coast. And I shared with him, like, you know, I think it's time for me to just sort of do something interesting and different. And he alerted me about the possibilities. I found the cry of the South East Mountains and connected with them and then, yeah, the rest is history. That's wonderful. The one will be smaller. It's amazing. We posted the position and had over 40 applicants from all over the world.

And it was, you know, we narrowed that pool down to ten, very quickly narrowed it down to five. And of the five, we narrowed it down to two, Bola being one of the two. We brought Bola over, and he spent a week here with us getting to know the family, getting to know the property, understanding really what the goals were, and it was a no-brainer. It was an easy decision for us. That's fantastic. I just think just to show you sort of the reputation of Virginia beginning to really get out there as a winemaker,

that you have 40 applicants from around the world. Around the world. Interested in a position in Virginia for wine because it's really taken just such a step up. Well, and one of the things that put Bola in front and center for us is that Bola is intimate with his grapes. So you find a lot of winemakers who have vineyard management teams, and they're out there. The vineyard management teams are out there, and maybe the winemakers are out there, you know, every once in a while.

But Bola loves to be involved in the wine. So it's almost like you're a wine whisperer in a way, right? You've got to know what's going on with your grapes. And so through the series of discussions, that was something that came front and center, is that Bola truly is interested in knowing what's going on with his grapes, because you can tell a lot about the quality and what's happening with your vineyards.

Yeah. Which is so important. So tell us a little bit about the types of wines that you have, because I see a few here. Like Jenny said, I speak grape. It's my secret superpower. So it's interesting. His superpower.

We have a few wines that we brought along today and it's quite interesting. Like I said, I've been here for a year. I do also get the feel for the other winemakers. They have varieties they love and some of them they don't like so much. So we have Chardonnay Chardonnay is obviously it's big international

but we found that the Chardonnays in Virginia again there's some really something special about the Chardonnays we had a little bit planted some more a few years later planting some more next month so Chardonnay is doing really well. Viognier is one of the love hate varieties I think

10 years ago plus people call that the Virginia grape. Interesting that Jodie's commented about the vineyard and it seems like Viognier and the winery is easy enough. It's wine's wine but in the vineyard

Viognier is a bit of a nightmare. So we found that that is one of the struggles but we have a fair amount of Viognier and really lovely Viognier is a bit of a nightmare. So we found that, yeah, so that is one of the struggles, but we have a fair amount of Viognier and really lovely Viognier. A very unknown variety, Petit Mansingh, found home here in Virginia. I think Petit Mansingh, because like we spoke about, the

climate can be quite temperamental here. Petit Mansingh seem to be a bit more resilient, and that's also one of the sort of love, hate, more winemakers loving Petit Manstyman saying I think because it's such a hardy variety for the tough conditions here. So those are the main varieties. There is

a bit of Gruner, Gruner Veltliner, the Austrian variety. The Gruners are really cool. We're going to bottle our first Gruner in the next week or two and jeez I'm really excited about the Gruner. So we had a little bit like a fraction of an acre, another bit more planted. We're going to

increase the plantings and I think Jodie and I, we can talk about it, maybe increase it in the future. That is, I really enjoy the Gruner. That's wonderful, I love, I'm a big fan of You have to come and have some of it. It is beautiful. And then there's, we also another experiment, a bit of Albariño.

I tasted it last, at the Governor's Cup last month, and there's some really, really good Albariños from that Spanish-Fortuguese border. Yes, exactly. Yeah, so I think it's all, again, found a home here. Some really cool Albariños we've tasted. And we've also ordered some vines that's also getting planted soon. So that's on the white side. And on the reds, we'll talk about the wines as we taste them,

but Petit Videau, again, coming to its own. All over the world, people use it as a blending variety, but we've just found in Virginia, the central Virginia, that, you know, the Petit Videau can really make a beautiful standalone wine. And then Cabernet Franc. I think Cabernet Franc is probably leading, you know, when it comes to the personality of Virginia. I think Cabernet Franc is probably leading when it comes to the personality of Virginia. I think Cabernet Franc is the variety. We have a

fair amount of Merlot as well. And I must say we don't see a lot of varietal Merlots in Virginia, but it's a really nice Merlot from 23 Harvest and Tank. We just made you a single varietal Merlot this year. I'm really excited about that possibility.

We've used it for blending. We've used it for blending. We've used it for blending and for the rosé. It is going to be pretty exciting to have a new varietal. We have 70 acres just to kind of set the stage of what we already have planted. We have on the Castalia property which is where our tasting room is located off of Whipper Inn Lane and Stony Point Pass in Keswick. We have 50 acres there. 20 acres

have been cool in, which is right down the road. Then we have another 10 acres on Turkey Sag at another property. So that gets us to 80 acres. That won't produce until next year. And then we're planting this additional 10. So 90 acres is what we'll have under vine total across the several properties and the varietals that Bola mentioned. So it's a good production. So before you actually plant the varietals, do you kind of look to see how, you know, the temperature and weather here matches that with the particular, you know, vine that you're thinking of planting?

Or is it more, let's see what happens? No, there's a lot of studies. So there's soil analysis. I'm not sure if it was in your time, Jody, or before your time that they've done a complete soil analysis. So that is one thing that we look at. And then, yeah, we look at the climate. But, yeah, I think the problem is you look at the morphology, the sort of, you know, the grapes, how the grapes grow,

more so because of the humidity that we find here and untimely rain. So your tighter clusters. You know, I'm from South Africa. Like I said, Chenin Blanc is very popular there. You can't grow Chenin here. It's going to rot. So there are other things. There are numerous things that you,

it's not only the soil and the rainfall and the actual temperatures, but there's other things involved as well that you, you know, sort of specific problems here that you may bring into account. But there's been some, the Virginia industry, you know, we all talk about Jefferson,

what is that, what, 250 years ago? So the industry has been going for a very long time. Really, it's only 30, 40 years where there's been sort of renewed energy sort of producing quality wine. And there's been a lot of experimentation. So I must say that there's something that I came to experience since I arrived here

is the community and how people work together here in Virginia. The winemaking community in Charlottesville is amazing. There's a community or industry body called Winemakers Research Exchange. I think Emily from Veritas founded that, where all the winemakers get together. And it's funded by the Department of Agriculture, Virginia Department of Agriculture. And it's like a PhD graduate that runs it so everything is scientific all the experiments and the guys do a lot of

experiments, Joy Ting does that Yes, we get her on, yes I was going to say, I knew you had Joy on. When you said that change, I'm like is that the same exchange that Joy was doing? It definitely is Very bright researcher. And all the wineries, they all participate.

I'm doing this thing in the vineyard, so sort of dropping crop or controlling the crop or opening the canopies, more sunlight, or in the wine cellar, however they do it. And everything is scientifically sort of written up and researched by Joy and then presented. So we have, back to your question about why do we plant this, research done over 10-plus years, like proper scientific research, and it's all documented, and it present it. So we have, back to your question about why do we plant this, research done over 10 plus years, like proper scientific research, and it's all documented, and it's open. Anybody can have access to that

to see what's worked and what hasn't. So yeah, it's not totally blind. I know that there were some of our neighbors, I think the owner of Horton was known for saying, you know, he's uprooted more vineyards than most people will plant in their lifetime. So there's been a lot of research over the last

20, 30 years where people just experiment. And even today, you know, there's still a lot of bits and pieces that we're planting, sort of, you know, thinking it may or may not work, but, you know, we'll know in five or ten years. There's a lot of conversation even taking place about clones, the proper clones. There's grafting that the

Wine Research Exchange is doing that will allow the conditions and the different things that we experience here in Virginia. Once you graft and you put together these grape varietals that are resistant to some of those things, then you will find it to be a better growing opportunity and success rates that, because we're exposed to humidity you made a great point earlier about the consistencies in California wines well it's you know number one the vines are old number two they fight so hard number three they don't have a lot of rain so they're vigorous they're bold they're robust whereas gosh the winemakers here, they are so, you know, they just have so much opportunity for things to go wrong.

It could be a rainstorm. It could be, you know, anything, humidity. It could be rot. It means so many things. So many late frosts. Oh, yes. That's a killer. Yes, yeah.

And we're still not past that, you know, Mother's Day. Mother's Day is like the big day in the wine industry here. Back in 2020, the frost of the Mother's Day really destroyed a lot of crops and made it very difficult for winemakers here in the Charlottesville area. And gosh, we just get past that point, and then it's like, okay, now we have other things to worry about. But yeah, frost is definitely something. Yeah, the frost finishes, and so now the humidity is here. Yeah, and rain and all those good things, all those good things.

But we need to get you tasting something. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, seriously, seriously. But I would say, I wonder, does the climate also provide anything to the grape? In other words, yeah, the one thing about California is like, yeah, you drink those wines, and to a certain respect, they all taste the same, right? I'm not going to say they're all exactly the same, but, you know, there's a consistency, but they're all the same.

Is there something about being in Virginia, though, that does change the quality, the flavor of the wine so that maybe every year it's like, wait a minute, this year this is what it tastes like. The next year it's like, wow, this is different. And that doesn't make it bad. If anything, maybe it makes it good. It's fun. That's an interesting comment.

So I'm just going to start pouring. Go for it. It is. What's it now? Is it like 4 o'clock in South Africa? I think it's definitely time for a glass of wine. No, that is quite interesting. Like J.D. said, when I arrived here, the vineyard site is really important to us.

And I have seen that the first ones are Virginia. This is the Virginia grape. It is. This is the Virginia grape. And just so you know, we brought our cards here, our flight cards to share with you. So, yes, we have on this, we have two governor's gold medal winners, two silvers, even though we have other silver medal winners that aren't on the card. But we did bring you the card.

We do pay homage to where we're growing. Where we're growing. Oh, I'm sorry. We do pay homage to where we are growing our wine which is the Monticello wine region and if you have heard any news in the last say six months it has been that in November they announced that or I'm sorry in February they I guess it was November November they announced that we won as a wine region the number one wine region in the entire world, as recognized by the Wine Enthusiast Magazine. So absolutely huge for the Monticello Wine Trail, Virginia wines,

and something to be super proud of. And really, truthfully, you get this honor once in a lifetime. And I have to give a lot of credit to the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau. Courtney and Brantley over there were the ones who actually filled out the application with wine enthusiasts for the recognition. And they won. And so they narrowed it down to five other places,

one in South Africa, one in Italy, Australia, and Provence, yes. So we were up against some very strong competition. So I must make sure that that gets recognized. And then in the state, the Virginia Governor's Cup is where these awards are given. So that's what this is coming from. And so our two gold medal winners are the Petit Mensang and the Cab Franc from 2021. And then the silver medal are the Viognier and the Petit Verdot Reserve, again, others. And then

there is a Monticello Wine Trail within our region as well. And those awards are going to be announced at the end of the month during Monticello Wine Trail Week, which is April 26th through May 2nd. So there's lots of special events in town for people to go and enjoy. Red wines, white wines, rosés, see the Monticello Wine Trail winners. So I'll let Bola go back to talking about Viognier and let you taste it. But I couldn't go any further without talking about it. You are tasting the silver medal. You are tasting the silver medal. I'll be honest with you. The first time I had Viognier, and it's such a French word,

you'd think I would be able to do it properly, was probably only about six months ago because I had never really just – because everybody used to say, nah, that's just a Virginia white wine, white wine. So it's like, okay. But finally I tasted it and it's like, I actually enjoy it. It is good. And this is, I mean, this is excellent. So it is a good grape.

So this is our Viognier. And Viognier typically very ripe, very tropical, that sort of papaya, the riper character, low acidity. So interesting. The next one is the Petit Minceigne, which is like a very different focus altogether, but really nice sort of texture. We had a dinner last night at South and Central with this Viognier,

and this nice sort of texture and sort of palate weight really is an ideal food wine. I think we're very proud of the food culture here in Charlottesville, and this really is a really nice versatile food wine. It's got a low acidity, right? It's smooth on your tongue. It's very good. I just want to come back to your previous comment. Sorry I got

sidetracked about the climate. When I started out winemaking, we said we really want to express. If you want to make a wine, for instance, in this instance, this is Viognier, and it's from the Southwest Mountains region. So it's very specific.

It's not a French or Australian or Californian Viognier. This is Viognier, the variety, like we spoke about, the flavors. But also this is Southwest Mountains, where we are sort of in a global. And then since I arrived here, it's more, you know, it's more than just that. And I think the locals, the people in the area, they're aware. Like Jodie said, you know, you get these sort of, you know, cold snaps and late rains and sort of wet summers or dry summers. And I think the locals will appreciate those differences.

So for me, this is, you know, talk about Viognier and Southwest Mountains, it's Viognier and Southwest Mountains of a specific moment, that 2021 vintage. And I think that is something that it's up to us to communicate that. I think we're not making a commodity. It's not like sort of the exact same for one year to the following. That's the beauty of what we do.

It's not a big mass-produced product that we put in the market. It really is, you know, you go to the vineyard and you bring that into the winery, and that's a snapshot. This is a snapshot of what we do in that particular moment. And next year will be different. So that's the beauty.

So people come back to the estate, and it's not like, oh, well, we had this last year or the year before. It's exciting because the new releases are different because of what's happening outside in the vineyard, because of what Mother Nature gives us. So that really makes the winemaking really exciting. That's the beauty of it. Like really exciting. Once you convey it to people and explain to them,

this isn't like you go to the store and you buy this million bottle produced wine and you know it's going to be exactly the same every single time you drink it. But once you convey that, I think there's an excitement to it. Like you said, there's a reason to go back and try a new year,

because it's not going to be an identical wine. You're going to experience on your palate kind of what the grapes experienced that year. Well, you also have a huge advantage, too, when you have a winemaker, and you have the ability to have a production facility, which we built a beautiful, brand-new, state-of-the-art production facility when we opened in September. And in doing so and having a winemaker who is intimate with your grapes, you can go into different blocks because they're on different spaces and places on the properties. The same varietal might be grown further back on a piece of property or elevated a little bit more. And then you can kind of isolate those and pick them differently.

If you see some advantages, you can pick a small block of them. You don't have to pick all of them and put them in a large tank and do it all the same way. You can capitalize on doing something very special with what you have to work with. And we are very fortunate, you know, that we have, you know, some of that opportunity. And let's be honest. I mean, that's the other thing about when you think about Virginia, right? I mean, you'll get a thunderstorm. And there's times where it's like my wife calls me.

We're like 10 minutes away. Oh, the thunderstorm is horrendous here. It's the wind and stuff. And it's like I'm in the office like there's nothing. And it never hits us. Right? So it's the same thing. With 70 acres, right?

You're supposed to be 90. One area gets a little more sun so even that in itself can just change. Somebody may say, oh, our white wines didn't come out very well this year and you're like, oh, ours was terrific this year. So true. And Crozet,

you think about it, you've got the whole Crozet, Waynesboro, Stanton, the Shenandoah region, you have mountain ranges that kind of cut off different species. So a storm could get trapped on one side of the mountain, never make it to the other side.

So something could taste very different. And elevation too. I mean, there's so many variables. Absolutely. I'm quite excited about the Turkey Sake property that Jodie mentioned. Because at the moment, Castella is the assessment market, Ben Coulin

close to the Keswick Post Office. That's about three miles. So they're relatively similar. There are differences, but they're sort of in the same ballpark. But Turkey Sake is another 600 feet elevation and completely different soil. So we're definitely going to do something. I know that the oldest son, that's his property, and he's

like, geez, but why aren't my vines, they don't look the same, and everything is like, but that's the magic. That's the beauty. And for us then in the winery, to sort of distinguish and separate those wines and do something special and different. So yeah, it really is quite exciting. So yeah, more exciting things to come.

And as you mentioned, the one thing about wine, because I notice sometimes, you know, we'll get a wine, open a bottle of wine, right? My wife's not a big, big wine drinker, but every once in a while she'll say, We're going to change that. She's Italian, you would think, right? So she'll

taste the wine and she'll say, oh wow, this is really good. And I'm sitting there going, that's funny because I didn't really like this one. So the whole point is that everybody's palate is different, right? So even that, the change, the fact that one year to another changes, like you may taste it one year and say, this is not quite what I like. And then next year you go back and say, wow, this is like terrific, right? So it's an adventure.

I mean, in reality, what Virginia brings is an adventure to wines, but they're good, right? So one thing that Bola hasn't mentioned in his history and some of the accolades that he has been given over the course of his career is that he offers very minimalistic kind of tinkering with the wines. He lets the wines kind of produce the beauty of the land and the terroir and lets them kind of express themselves. And so he does that, and that's what his reputation has been for many, many years, accolades as being the number one Chardonnay maker in the world, right? So we feel really blessed to have somebody who is so intimate with the wines. And we are really blessed to have somebody who is so intimate with the wines. And we are really proud.

I mean, we wouldn't have Southwest Mountains vineyards on our labels if we weren't proud of where the wine is coming from. So to have somebody who appreciates that and pulls it all together is pretty cool. You can talk to the grapes and he knows how they feel. Yeah. And in the music that they play in the production facility, I'm like, you know, what are they like? What are they listening to, you know? What's on Spotify for the grapes today, right?

Exactly. As we taste this one, I'm going to give a couple of shout-outs here. Elizabeth Derpy watching the show this morning. Rosalia de Rosalia Tardaro from New York watching the show this morning. Thanks for joining us. Dean Russell watching the show this morning. I think Dean, he either is a fan of South Africa, or he's from there,

because he's got a little flame, with a South African flag, that he's putting up there. So I think he's really pushing, he's thrilled, that bonus. He's from South Africa, Jerry's telling me he is from there.

So Dean, thanks for tuning in this morning, and he's sharing the pride. Linda Irvin, watching the show this morning, says good morning, thanks for this educational discussion. She's learning a lot. Oh, good.

She got the grape, the wine glass, and the heart. Thanks, Linda. Cheers to Linda. Salud. So this is Petit saying, and we touched on it earlier, it's interesting. The bunches are quite big, but the berries

are tiny and very loose bunches. It's quite amazing comparing that to most other varieties, Viognier, Chardonnay. If you shake the bunch, the berries are loose. So I think coming back to the humidity and the challenges that bring, Petit Minsang really is quite resistant to those challenges. But yeah, the acidity is quite, comparing that to the Viognier. But again, we spoke about food, but this freshness of the Petit Minceing, it really adds a total different

dimension and sort of experience. I did a tasting a week or two ago at the Wine Guild not too far from here, and it was quite interesting. So we had the Viognier and we had the Petit Minceing next to each other. And it is pretty interesting. So we had the Viognier and we had the Pitamin Sang next to each other. And it is pretty much,

some people really appreciate the more textural sort of lower acidity drinkability of the Viognier. And then you get other wine drinkers like, no, they don't like the Viognier. They like the freshness. They like the acidity. So it is really good.

And then we have a white vin. Figure that. A white vin where we actually... And it's so good. Where you get the palate weight of the Viognier and just the acidity of the Pitamin Sang to balance. It's quite interesting to see

that people have their preferences and that's the beauty of wine. It's not necessarily right or wrong. It's preference. It depends also what kind of food you eat. If you're eating a food that has a thick sauce or whatever, you want a little bit of that acidity, right? You want some acidity sometimes, yeah.

But there are times where it's like, no, you're not interested in that, but wow. You'll notice we don't have very much residual sugar either. We're not overall a sweet wine vineyard, just to kind of set the stage. We don't have sweet wines. That's not really our

protocol in terms of the wines that we're making. But when people do ask us, do you have a sweet wine, we will kind of guide them a little bit if they like white wines to the white blend. Okay, yes. Okay, because that'll be, it'll kind of resemble sweetness without actually

being a sweet wine. Correct. Sometimes like, you know, I notice the Vion Yate kind of does that a little bit. In other words, I call it like a palate fooler. In other words, it gives you the sensation of like, oh yeah, that might be like, but it's not really, there's no sugar. It's not sweet at all. Right?

But it can kind of deceive you almost like there are some whiskeys and things you may have, right, where you'll taste it and be like, it's not sweet at all, but it has a sensation that's smooth, and if you were going to find something that's dry but could fool you into being sweet, it would be something like that. Whereas the team had sang with its acidity, or a Gruner Veltliner, right?

You're never going to be fooled. You'll never mistake a Gruner Veltliner for a Riesling. No. The first time I had it, because I ever had that variety, was in Austria. And I just had this assumption, right? Oh yeah, German-Austrian wines, they're sweet. And I taste them and I'm like, nope, this is not

a sweet wine. This is a bold, strong wine. And so what is this red variety that we have here? So this is Cabernet Franc. You know, Dan, like I touched earlier, that is Cabernet Franc. Do you know what that is? Beautiful. Like I touched earlier, that is just a magic variety.

Yeah. It was quite interesting. So after I was speaking to Jody and I met the team here the first time, November 22, and we decided we're going to sort of join forces going forward, I had a conversation with Matthew Fino from King Family. There was an interesting conversation. So I was trying to wrap my head around, I haven't tasted this wine yet,

and just a conversation coming at least from their own valley. Like I said, being at King for like 15 years now. And I said to him, Matthew, so, you know, the Cabernet Francs, you know, is it like Loire Cabernet Franc, the more sort of leafy, herbal Loire Cabernet Franc? Was it more Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion, a bit broad shoulders? And he said to me, Bullard, this is Virginia Cabernet Franc, the more sort of leafy, herbal Loire Cabernet Franc? Was it more Bordeaux Saint-Emilion, a bit broad shoulders? And he said to me, Bill, this is Virginia Cabernet Franc. So you can't put it in a box.

And again, I think I'm back to Jodie's point also, but really expressing what we have here. And it really is sort of deliberating, sort of, you know, there's no box, you know, you basically do. And again, I think Jodie, again, touched on, you know, the climate. It's amazing. You also spoke about, you know, localised the climate. It's amazing. You also spoke about localised thunderstorms. It's amazing

how even in the Monticello region, how different the wines are from an area like Crozet to the South East Mountain Corridor. And it's not that it's better or it's just different. And we have found that how stylistically they are very different. But yeah, tasting the 21 Cabernet Franc,

I just fell in love with the variety. This really is, there's complexity. It's not a big, bold sort of, you know, in your face style of wine. It's very subtle, very elegant, but geez, there's just so much flavor, so much complexity. It really is a complete wine. I think this is a fabulous wine. And this is a love of Virginia too, from a red perspective. You're

finding more and more people talking about Cab Francs in Virginia. So this is one that I would continue to watch. This actual wine itself could be laid down a little bit longer too. It's still tasting a tad young, so you do have the ability

to lay it down and age it. Which is something important to think about as you're drinking wine and where you can take those wines in the future. And so, again, part of some of the dialogue and conversations that we have are to help educate people on, you know, how long you should hold on to something and when it might taste a little bit different. So I'm curious because, I mean, I can see the excitement every time he talks about, you know the the wine and the grapes and but so do you get the opportunity now to open up so we're talking about holding on letting the bottles

let let mature in the bottle and let it grow so do you get a chance to say open up a bottle and say yeah we're not going to release teas yet 100 okay 100 we actually when we opened we've only been open since september so a little over six months um to the public for the tasting room and when we opened, we've only been open since September, so a little over six months to the public for the tasting room. And when we first opened, we had a 2021 Petit Verdot and it was drinking way, it's too tight. It's drinking way too young. And so we had it out and we questioned it ourselves a little bit and then people gave us their reaction it wasn't quite as good as what some of the other wines so we took it we took it and put it back in inventory and laid it laid it down and we'll bring it back out when it's ready and when it's appropriate but we are very fortunate because we do have inventory so we picked another red and brought that red out and people are just

in love with our wines and i we get a lot of positive feedback about our wines. And I think it is because they do have a couple of years on them. So it's nice. That's a great advantage to be able to have them where here we are in 2024 and we're looking at 2021 wines, 2022 wines. In other words, they've had some time. And we have 2019 and 20s as well at the winery that we drink as our tastings. We have several different tasting flights for people to try. But, yeah.

I just wanted to add on before Jody pointed out that we sold the Red Blend and the Petit Verdot from 2019 vintage. So, on the one hand, it's great for us. It's a new facility with everything is brand and shining and new. But also, we have wines that's with five years of maturation. So, yes, that really makes a big difference. And that's something I've found. Even the white wines, there's often a perception that white wines need to hit the market soon. And we've seen that the white wines, obviously the reds, I mean, that's sort of more commonly known,

that often quality reds get better with a bit of age but we've seen the white wines as well. The white blend that I mentioned earlier with the extra year or two of bottle maturation really brings so much more complexity and viscosity. There's a lot of value in that. There's nothing scientifically right that would

indicate that a white wine becomes worse over time. I think people I think just totally right. I mean, people would say, okay, it doesn't get any better, but it's not like it degrades or anything. I mean, it's still... I think that's a matter of opinion, wouldn't you say? Or is that something that...

Because I know that... It's also a matter of quality. There are certain wines, and there are certain wines I've made, there's saying that most wines, supermarket wines, are consumed within certain wines I've made, there's a saying that most supermarket wines are consumed within 24 hours of consumption. So there's a certain style of and that goes back, you farm the grapes for that particular

style of wine, so it's from the vineyard to the winery, it's made for easy consumption, it's bright and fresh when it's young, but really 12 months later, it's probably time to say goodbye. So that really depends on the style and the quality, you know, what the wines are made for. So it's not untrue that certain style of

whites, you know, once you buy them, you know, it's not going to get any better, but your quality producers all over the world, you know, the wines definitely... Are made to get better. Are made, and they will get better with proper cellaring. Yes. Okay. That's the important thing. Oh, it is. It is. Yeah, exactly. I also feel like,

you know, when you talk about California, you know, they do have white wines that they tell you, you know, you can have them in your cellar for years,

right? And so, I don't think we got to your call. We can swap. Okay. I didn't know it was fantastic. Good, good, good. But yes,

you can keep them for longer. And so, it's just nice for us to have the 2020 white blend um and the white blend the word white blend doesn't do it justice right you you kind of think of a white blend you think oh they've just thrown everything together it really doesn't do it justice but at the leftover stuff yeah i mean you'd love to be able to call it an estate white right but at the time that we were doing that wine, we produced the wines on the property,

but we didn't actually bottle them. We grew them, but we didn't produce and bottle them on the property so that we could not call it a state white. Now that we have the production facility on site, we can do all of that, so it can be an estate white. And so it just sounds a little bit better, but gosh when people drink our white um blend they're like well this is so good so good so good and this is the

petite this is the petite bordeaux reserve so this one yeah yeah and if you looked at right up my alley i was going to say if you looked at our bottles our bottles have a unique um story to them so you know our core brand uh labels are all white, but our reserve bottles do have a red label on them. All of them have buttons on them. So it's almost like what's the Blanton's, I guess, bourbon, right? Where you collect the cool tops, right? So ultimately, when we worked with the company out in California, and we did all of our branding and marketing and created the labels, we actually had a methodology in mind. So these buttons are the same size as what would be we worked with the company out in California and we did all of our branding and marketing and created the labels. We actually had a methodology in mind.

So these buttons are the same size as what would be on a coat of the Fox Hunter. And so each of these have an, you know, an animal illustrate. Well, it's all related to Fox hunting. So it could be the Fox as you see here. And,

you know, and it's embossed, you can touch it and it's raised. Oh, that's really nice. And it's embossed. You can touch it, and it's raised. Oh, that's really nice. And then you've got the riding coat. You've got the dog. The dog. Okay, I saw the dog.

So you've got the dog. So all of them are a representation because, really, there's so much fellowship in Keswick to the fox hunt. And they don't kill the fox. That's not the methodology and the goal anymore. It really truly is about community. It's about gathering. It's about land preservation. And our winery is built on a piece of property that is under land conservation. And so they open

up their gates and that's how, you know, the different farms and estates out there, that's how they start to build their fellowship in their community they share their properties and they do this together and so anyways we played paid um homage to um the the keswick um area and and the love and um our owner's wife diane um you know she fox hunts and she just thought this was just fantastic. It is a beautifully designed label. It's got a great story. Speaking of land, tell us a little bit about the new tasting

room. I've seen pictures. The views are awesome. This is not just land that's good for growing vines. It is beautiful land. Just looking at it. It is. Just looking at it.

It is. It's at the base of the Southwest Mountains. Southwest Mountains run all the way down behind Monticello. It was land that Thomas Jefferson said it was the Eden, where things could grow the best. And so for him, when he came and he was looking for land and when he was planting his grapes, he was looking at doing it in this mountain range.

So yes, we're at the base of that mountain. We have a beautiful, historic, old pole barn that was renovated back in 2015. And we, like I said, opened to the public in September of 2023. We have two levels. We do have food. So our upper level is table side dining. So you can get food and wine. We do all of that by reservation through talk. And then our lower level is first come first serve. And so we have a second tasting bar on the lower level. We have chairs and more of a pub-style effect on the first floor. Lots of patios and outdoor seating.

Kids are welcome on the first floor, the first-come, first-served area. 21 and older up on the second level. But lots of space for children to play and really enjoy, or families to enjoy the space. And then you can taste on either level and we do have a grab-and-go marketplace so for families that are looking for snacks or you know salamis and cheeses and breads and things crackers that we've got all that for them there so it's wonderful it's it's a perfect environment and our chef who actually creates our food for us he came to us uh chef gregory from maya he was was with Maya for about 11 years.

And so we're so blessed to have him. And so he creates... We're a farm winery. We're not a commercial winery. We're not a restaurant. So we have limitations of what we can do. But with the limitations, he really creates beautiful things. And it's a beautifully designed space.

Thank you. The interior of the tasting room as well. If you check out the website, which is smvwines.com. You got it. You click tasting room. You can see, I mean, the homepage kind of gives you the beauty of the land. And then you hit tasting room. You kind of see some of the design of the tasting room, which is really just beautiful.

And I can tell by really large windows that the view must be incredible. It is great. And I've heard the dining is delicious. It is so good. And you can pair it with... Yes, we do pairings. And we have music every weekend from one to four. So it's sometimes outside,

it's sometimes inside, depending upon the weather. But these bands and groups that we bring out have their own following as well. And they've become SMV lovers as well. That's wonderful. It's fabulous. I do have a quick question.

So how was the 2023 grapes? How did they come? Just give me a little hint. No, no, 2023 was easy. When I arrived there, people warned me, like, yeah, it can be difficult, and there's hurricanes and storms. Because I don't think we didn't have much of a wet year last year. No, not at all. So I don't know why

the wine makers in Virginia are complaining about the weather. What are they complaining about? No, I got lucky the first year. The weather was perfect, and the wines are beautiful. Virginia, I think more commonly known for the quality whites at the moment. But, jeez, the reds,

I think our reds are better than the whites in 23. The reds are beautiful. It's really, there's, like, everything is right there. So, yeah, 23 was really good. I'll write that down. 2023 Southwest. I'm going to be honest. Maybe I'm biased, but Petit Verdot was my favorite, even in 2021. I mean, we're a little biased.

What do you mean, maybe? Maybe not even maybe. We are undoubtedly biased towards red. I can tell you already like a big, bold, you like big, bold wines. That tends to be Maybe. Maybe not even maybe. We are undoubtedly biased. We're dread. I can tell you already like a big, bold. You like big, bold wines. That tends to be where we lead. I can tell that already. Where we lead.

Absolutely. Interesting. So, you know, we've spoken about Virginia being the great wars at Cabernet Franc or at Petit Monsaing. But it's interesting. So the Governor's Cup, like Jodie mentioned, that's the whole Virginia, and the Governor's Cup is quite red wine heavy every year. It's often two-thirds would be red wines. And of those red wines, I would say half the red wines

are single varietal Petty Vidoes. And then of the remaining, they often meritage blend, again, Petty Vidoe, a large component. So Petty Vidoe has a significant presence in the Governor's Cup every year, which is quite interesting. In my previous life, I've worked with Petit Videau in Cape Town, I've worked with Petit Videau in France,

and it's always been like 2%, 5% of a blend. It's never really the... So I was like, geez, what's wrong with the winemakers in Virginia to bottle a single varietal Petit Videau? I mean, who does that? And I remember the first... When we got the Petit Bideaux in the winery, I was doing something and I just smelled like this black currant concentrate. I was like, what on earth is going on?

So, and then the guys, they did the first pump over on the PVs and it just filled the whole winery. I was like, hmm, I get it. I know why the guys are, yeah, they really enjoy, the winemakers really enjoy the PVs, and bottled a single varietal, so you can get it in the glass, it's right there. It's amazing, it really is. I think that's the beauty of the

different places, right? That it could be where Europe and other places are growing Petit Verdot, where I go, yeah, that's the one you stick in, but where it just, what happens to it in Virginia, because it's true, I mean, I've had some in Virginia that just, and it's funny, I mean, I've had some in Virginia that just, and it's funny, I would say I've never had a Petit Verdot

that wasn't a Virginia Petit Verdot. I don't know any Petit Verdot. Yes, I mean, maybe if it's in a red blend from somewhere that I haven't bothered to look at the last item on the list, but I've only ever had it in Virginia, and it's always been excellent. But you know what, I think that there is a little bit of an awareness that will take place in how you look at things going forward though. Because I do

I will tell you in the last couple of years where I wouldn't have looked for a Petit Verdot somewhere else. I can find them other places now and I'm like oh that's interesting because we truthfully are old world. We use the old world style varietals in in virginia

and so now you you kind of you you go ah i get it ah i get it um that and to not to not is another varietal that i think you know i start to see more of um that i didn't wasn't aware of in in 2022 it was such a wet year and oh gosh we had so much moisture and wet in the grapes like oh things didn't have the beautiful colors that they you know do um in 2023 um it's just crazy just how one year affects the other and and then what do you do with that wine to give it its robust color because otherwise it looks flat and doesn't have as much character. How interesting. Maybe it's one of those things you have, right?

Maybe we're showing the old world some things you could do with their own grapes. Oh, we've had that. We just never thought of doing it by itself. And Jefferson thought he could bring any clone or lot in and plant it here and it would be

successful. And it wasn't. He proved himself. I think how many, I forget what the statistic is, but it's crazy. And so there's a lot of history there. But it's interesting what you're saying because Petit Vincennes, for instance, that's grown in the eastern sort of alpine region of France and people don't really know about it. They make these sort of sherry style

wines in the Jura region there. But it's quite a, even, you know, it's a small part of the business. So if you Google Petit Vin saying Virginia pops up so your comment about sort of, you know, Virginia showing the old world, you know, where the grapes from, what can actually do with the variety, it's

not untrue. It's exciting. It's not untrue. It's exciting. It's definitely exciting. And more people tuning in. Ina Vasiljevic, thank you for tuning in. Lucrecia Morales, thanks for watching this morning. Really appreciate everyone. I think I spotted one more who popped in, but my apology if I missed your name.

But thank you all for tuning in this morning. This has been such a pleasure. It's been amazing. Amazing. I've learned so much, had some amazing wines. Yeah, they've all been very good. They've all been excellent.

Excellent. Please come out and visit us. We'll do it. That was going to be my next question. So if people want to find out more and come visit you guys, where should they go? Well, truthfully, the smvwines.com is the best place to go. So many people forget the S on the end of mountains and vineyards. But if you do put something in and you're Googling it, it's Southwest Mountains Vineyards.

So don't forget the S's because that makes a difference. But, yeah, you can find us on social. We have a Spotify. We do Spotify. We have fun things going on. And like I said, we have different events that we do at the winery. So we have an events page on our website. So we're having a Blessing of the Vines at the end of April.

So something different and something fun. We do wine dinners. We have a wine club. All of these things are really important to any winery. But we have them all. And we're really excited. And, again, we're only six months in. Imagine in three years what it's going to be like, right?

Absolutely. That's amazing. We do yoga on, you know, one Sunday a month already. So we're doing fun things. Absolutely. And it really is fantastic wine, I mean, especially with the coming season. I can't think of anything better to do out there. Come drink some rosé on the deck.

I wonder, how do I get his job? You're going to have to fight. No, absolutely not. I don't have any fond experience. The appreciation I have, because I know obviously33 was a lighter year but the appreciation I have though for winemakers like you in this area because you were doing a lot

to bring out of not the easiest environment, excellent wine so it's amazing what you've been able to do and we're excited that you're here well you know what, you haven't even tasted his wine yet so we're really excited to get um some allocations out there of bola and bola's team um bola's assistant winemaker is jeremy mersch who came from to us from early mountain and then we

have a seller manager who's come from the industry and a seller lead who has california experience so he's got a very strong team. So together they're creating some pretty super stuff for 2023. So we can't wait to taste it and get it in out to the public. And we have a lot of our club members. Our club member is already three over 300 strong very quickly. And they're really excited to taste Bola's wines. That's fantastic.

I'm looking forward to that too. And I think there's a better way to end it. Jerry confirms Dean, our friend Dean is from Benoni, Dauteng, South Africa. Showing the pride. We're glad that you've come here to Virginia and we're glad

for the work that you're doing here at Southwest Mountains Vineyard, really making amazing wines. We're looking forward to seeing you. Six months in, we'll be glad to have you back in the future. Come see us. Come see us. We'll do. Absolutely will do. And we're going to leave the rest of the wines for you. Thank you so much. Take them home and enjoy.

Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Well, this has been a fantastic show. That was great, wasn't it? Don't even need your finance evidence. We're so into it. You wouldn't want that now. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, do you really want to take your time to finance anymore? Oh, man, this is great.

This has been an amazing show. Really appreciate Jody and Bola coming on. You know, what's wonderful is that you get to experience, and like I said, the thing about Virginia is that every single winery in a way is unique, right? And you get to experience their challenges, how they go about it. But I think Bola said something very interesting to me. He says it's almost educational. In other words, it's important to educate people saying that, yeah, this is not California.

This is not certain places in Europe. This is Virginia, right? So every single year, it's a different wine to a certain respect. You may be looking at the same, you know, Voignier or Petit Manson or whatever it may be. But in essence, it depends on what happened during that year. And he says, if we could put that into, educate people saying, hey, this year, yeah, it was a rainy season.

And therefore, you're going to find more of this type of flavor. And somebody may say, yeah, wait, that's what I like. That's what I want, right? And the next year, you know, maybe complete reverse. And I think that's, again, that's the, in a way, the beautiful thing about Virginia wines is that every single year, maybe the same, you know, vineyard, and maybe the same kind of grape, but the flavor is a little different. So you have to go there and say, I got to see what this tastes like this year because you just never know.

Maybe, wow, this is better than last year, right? So, I mean, I take my hats off because it's, and I can imagine, I'm just talking from the point of view of drinking, but if you're out there and you got the humidity and you got the bugs and you got all this stuff and you're saying, I got to save these grapes, what do I do? It's like what you go through with your garden except on a huge scale. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. On a much more sensitive scale. Exactly. A zucchini can survive a couple of months. Exactly, absolutely. Grape are also left out. Grape are just very fresh. I'm not trying to sell it. It's just like, just eat it guys, big deal. The headband was small this year, deal sell it. It's just like, eh, just eat it, guys. Big deal. The egg plant was small this year. Deal with it. Exactly.

Fry it. Just really appreciated Southwest Mountains Vineyards coming on, so it's been fantastic. It's been great to be on here with you. Thank you, I think, Clara Koshia, loving the show this morning. Thank you a lot for joining us this morning.

Really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone who tuned in, sent us their really supportive comments. Always appreciate our fantastic viewers from, I mean, we were as far as, ah, Linda Urban says, yes, she's looking forward to Bola's wines as well. So are we. So are we. That makes

everyone in this room. Bola's under a lot of pressure. I could just see it now. He is under a lot of pressure. I could just see it now. He is under a lot of pressure. So I really appreciate everyone who tuned in. Next week, another great guest, Matthias Young, from Monthly Minute with Matthias, is going to be joining us. Always fun to have him on and chat

with him. Thank you, of course, everyone who tuned in today. Thank you, Judah, behind the camera, making us all look good. Love being here on the Isle of Siebel Network set. Thank you once again to Emergent Financial Services, to our great partners at Matias Yon Realty, Credit Series Insurance Forward Atalante. Thank you, Xavier.

Thank you, Alex, for inviting me again. Oh, I always love being on with you. Always love being on with you. It's always a pleasure. Always a pleasure to see all of you. Have a wonderful week. We look forward to seeing you next week on the show, but until that time, as we like to close it out, hasta mañana.

Thank you.